


(The) Chase

by polandspringz



Series: Value-nerable [1]
Category: gen:LOCK (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Body Horror, Gen, Kidnapping, Whump, Whumptober 2020, but its a robot so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27273343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polandspringz/pseuds/polandspringz
Summary: A glimpse into Nemesis's-Chase's- final thoughts before the Union took him away.
Relationships: Julian Chase & Rufus Weller
Series: Value-nerable [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991368
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	(The) Chase

**Author's Note:**

> Ever since I rewatched all of gen:LOCK for my story "You're All Flying High, But I'm Drowning Down Below" I've had this idea to write something that gives more insight on Chase during Weller's monologue. I'm not the best at writing suspense or more horror-centric stories, but I tried my best!

They were closing around his neck.

Their hands had yet to touch him, but Chase was strangled. Words came up choked and his breath- if you could even consider those gasping noises transmitted over the frequencies to be breathing- was frantic and quick. A pain in the chest of his Holon skeleton blossomed out quickly with the strain, as if he actually had lungs within this body. That wasn’t right. That was supposed to be a benefit of this new body. He was supposed to be as good as human, better even, without all of the flesh and organs that made them vulnerable. He was faster, stronger, and quicker than before. He was supposed to be protected, with this electronic brain safely encased inside this body of armor. The Union wouldn’t be able to hurt him again, because he could outrun them.

Then why was he so afraid?

Chase couldn’t think. Voices buzzed over his network, the Doc and Colonel calling out for him but then shouting over each other so he could barely hear himself think. He thought he heard something about forgetting the missions, and he wanted to laugh. Didn’t they know he had forgotten the mission the moment he started running? A shaky, broken noise vibrated along their communications channel, reverberating around inside Chase’s metal skull as his legs kept running, punching himself over and onto another rooftop. The shaky noise sounded again, and again and again and again and again-

_“Julian, don’t cry. We’ll get you out of there. I promise.”_

On instinct, Chase raised a hand to his face as he soared over another gap. There were no tears. Another benefit of this body. Or curse. No release of emotion.

“Where’s the transport? Where are you guys?”

_“When the Union’s ships came in, we had to pull back a bit. We will get to you as soon as we can. But you have to get away first before we can-”_

Something gray darted into Chase’s vision, a large Union aircraft soaring overhead made his head swivel to the horizon line, but then a tank pounced up from the blindspot created by the cornice of the old soho building and latched onto the Holon’s shoulders, blacking out Chase’s vision. Doc’s words became jumbled and lost as Chase’s ears closed to all sound but the machine guns popping as the tank fired them straight into his face. With a grunt and a rushed swing of his arm, Chase managed to push it off and topple it over the side.

He didn’t stop to spare a glance at the incoming hordes below. He kept running.

Another jump up onto concrete. Another jump down onto concrete. The golden Union logo glimmered in the setting sun, the emblem decorating city towers reflecting into Chase’s eyes and blinding him with little flares that dotted his vision. He missed a step. He got up and kept running.

How much longer did he have until uptime? He could overclock, but if he overdid it and the system emergency downloaded him here, he would be stranded. As he hopped from one rooftop to the next, a disillusioned part of his mind reached out towards the horizon in the the hope that somehow he would grow wings and soar away, up towards the moon that was fading into the red sky, or that the transport ship would grab him from behind with their wires and lift him up away from the Union.

A copper wire stabbed through the ankle of his armor, and his body flew forward, tipping face-first over the chasm of the city streets stories below.

The skittering of spider-like limbs were pounding against the metal and glass of the rooftops. He was dragged back from the drop, and tiny robotic feelers began to dance along his back and face, and Chase screamed but forced himself to his feet. He stumbled as he twisted his body around and shoved the tanks off again with a scream. It tumbled off, and Chase watched through his Holon’s empty eyes as it was caught by an entire colony of the Union’s tanks marching up the bricks to reach him. Leaning on his one good leg as the artificial tendons of steel and copper wire spilled out, Chase hobbled over to the opposite side’s edge, and thankfully, this side of the building was a jump down, not up.

He fell, and then he was falling faster directly into the concrete and satellite dish as his Holon crashed. The armor shattered and split around the joint as his ankles took the shock of force from the drop, and Chase brought his knee to his chest in order to see the damage. He pulled at the wires, cut and split and sparked, dimly reminded of his mother’s sewing, when she would rip out the stitches she didn’t need with a hooked metal seam ripper. Above him on the roof, the spider tanks stepped out onto the edge, and brandished their sharp, scissor like claws overhead.

_His mother. His sister. He wanted to see them again._

He got up again and kept running.

There was screaming from the ESU. Dr. Weller fighting with his scientists and the Colonel as they yelled about something. _Pulling back,_ was all Chase could make out as his circuits surged and he forced himself into overclocking.

Chase’s arms pumped in and out of the blackened edges of his vision as he ran towards the horizon, towards the glowing sun that was melting down into the water in runny streaks that bleed out across the waves.

Chase landed on the concrete of a helipad, and that was it.

Metal wires pierced through his leg, and an airship flew down in front of the sun, blacking out the sky before him. The red eyes of the Union ship zoned in on him as the ten little spider tanks each shot out their webs and yanked him towards them. The fly had been caught in their web at last.

Chase’s exposed wires scraped against the concrete, screeching and grinding with a spark as he was tugged back little by little. He was heavy, and that heaviness was starting to weigh down on him more and more as the pain seeping through his artificial nervous system began to make him scream.

He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die.

He was one of the most valuable members of the Vanguard. He was one of the most important people in the Polity.

He could still hear Dr. Weller’s voice. Doc wouldn’t let them take him. They wouldn’t let him-

_“I’m not turning off the channel! I don’t care if they find me, we are turning the ship around and going back! I’m not letting him get taken alone-”_

_“Are you out of your mind? Weller, I swear, I will knock you out cold if you even try and risk your life to-”_

“-Doc…”

The channel was silent. Another drone stabbed through the other leg. A bitter, cold realization washed over him.

Even though he was gone from his body, Chase had experienced enough downloads from his tank where he could envision it clearly. Through the blue screen of gel and glass he floated inside, the Colonel, Doc, ABLE, he would open his eyes and see everyone standing around the communications monitor on the transport ship. They were always watching him, monitoring him, making sure he was okay and safe.

He was important, and they cared about him.

But, he wasn’t the _most_ important person. The Colonel was trying to do what needed to be done.

_“Julian, I promise you we will-”_

“Don’t worry, Doc. I understand.”

Chase could see the warnings flashing through his vision as the system tried to shut him down. Subconsciously he had continued to overclock, trying to escape his restraints.

_“Chase! Chase! No-”_

_“Julian!”_ The Colonel’s voice was the last thing he heard, screaming his name over Doc’s repeated pleas.

It was getting too loud, but...

Somewhere, they were watching.

Chase’s body was still reaching out desperately, clawing towards the sky, but in his last moments of control, he pulled his hand back, and gave one final salute.

_“I’ll make sure they won’t find you. Let gen:LOCK live on.”_

_Uptime Exceeded. Emergency Download Initiated._

And then he was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing a lot of stories lately, at a pretty rapid pace by my own standards, so I apologize for any mistakes I may have missed! There is another part to this story, which is listed in it's series tag. I thought about making it a second chapter, but prefer them as isolated works with some overlap in terms of the way I present the events.


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